We are to-day reliably informed that the number of the brigands has been grossly exaggerated. The Rev. Mr. Ledgard who himself was a captive for two weeks or more, estimates their number at about 5,000. Others put the figure even lower. If this be true, it offers little excuse for those who have been entrusted with their suppress sion.
But-not only that. We are also reliably informed that General Feng Vu-hsiang on three different occasions asked permission_to send his men after the bandits, but was refused. This probably was because Chang Fu-lai_ was at Chengchow and Chin Yun-ao at Sinyangchow, Chumatien, and Yencheng, and would brook no interference in the affairs of their respective districts.
Chin Yun-ao and Chang Fu-lai, these are the men who under Wir Pei-fu are entrusted with the suppression of bandits and the release of the foreign captives.
Are the Legations doing anything to find out whether or not these men can be depended upon for aggressive action?
Among people from. Central Honan it is notorious that Chin Yun-ao does not command the respect and obedience of his men. Chang Fu-lai is the man who succeeder Feng Vu-hsiang in Kaifeng and in whose wake all the prostitutes and other riff-raff driven out by Feng came back into the city. Both of them are said to be opium addicts_ It seems futile to look for effective measure from such sources.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.